


Human to Cry

by thesalsagamer396



Series: Blackwatch Jazz [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, Dad Gabe, Gen, Mournful Gabe, adults crying, healthy grieving, sad gabe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 04:47:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10072541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesalsagamer396/pseuds/thesalsagamer396
Summary: Even the toughest of people need to cry. Some of them just want to be alone when it happens.





	

Not many people had the guts to stands up to Commander Reyes. Then again, not many people were Jesse McCree. He only just turned 19, the youngest member of Blackwatch, and he was the most big-headed, arrogant, and downright rude member of the whole organization. He was just the scraps of the Deadlock Gang, the most of them shot down on site. The lone survivor. Yet here he was, strutting about like he owned the place. Where other recruits stopped, he kept going, dancing along the danger line like it didn’t exist.

But that was why Gabriel Reyes took a liking to the kid.

He was never afraid to say “No, sir! Ah ain’t leavin’ em behind!” or “No, sir! Reckon ye better carry him! Ahm a better crack shot than ye!”. He even said, “No, sir! Yer better off iffin ye go ahead without me!” That never happened, though. Gabe could never leave a man behind. Even if they were a dead man. He was attached to every last one of the men under his wings. The good and the bad. Who else would be willing to love them? If the rest of the world knew all the dirty work they had to do, they’d be labeled as criminals to their loved ones.

And Jesse had no loved ones.

Everyone else had a spouse and/or kids back home, waiting for them to come back. Maybe even a mother and/or father. But Jesse McCree had none of those waiting for him. All he had left was Deadlock, and they are all done for. McCree is alone in the world. No one waiting for him, and no home to go back to. That’s why Gabriel took him in. Not just as a soldier, but as a son.

It was no secret that Reyes liked the youngest recruit like a son. He would regularly call him “mijo”. Well, if he wasn’t busy scolding him. In return, Jesse often called the older man “Pa”, as he never really grew up with one.

Ever since he joined Blackwatch, Jesse did nothing but try his best to impress his Commander. He couldn’t thank the older man enough for the second chance in his life to do something bad in order to do some good. He trained harder than any recruit. At first, he was loud and clear and respective of everyone. Though that changed as soon as Reyes said to relax. Now we are back to that cocky attitude he always has.

Jesse had noticed the Blackwatch Commander holding something as he went into a room. No one was ever allowed in that room. Reyes outright forbid it. The last person who went in there had nearly lost an arm to his fury. So, needless to say, that guy shut up and never told a soul. However, that made the men under Reyes’ command even more curious as to what was in that room.

Enter Jesse McCree. The guy least likely to get seriously injured if he was caught. He was always willing to take one for the team. _Why not?_ He figured to himself.

So one night, when he thought the Blackwatch commander was not near enough to see him, the young cowboy opened the door and slipped in, quietly closing the door behind him. He was proud of that entrance. The stealthiest he’s ever been. He figured if Reyes saw that, he’d be pretty proud.

Too bad Gabriel was already inside.

Fear chilled the young man’s spine as he looked up at his superior with his usual scowl and crossed arms. Jesse stood there, petrified.

“Just what do you think you’re doing in here, vaquero?”

Flickering light of candles exposed the features on his commander’s face. His eyes seemed…puffier than usual. Has he been crying? No, couldn’t be. Gabriel Reyes was not one to cry about anyone or anything.

“I…Sorry, boss, but when ye say that sumfin’s not for peeping at, it makes a guy wanna look for trouble, y’know?” Jesse explained, finding some courage to speak up against his commander.

“…Walk with me, vaquero,” Gabriel sighed out, walking to the end of the room. Wordlessly, the younger man followed him, curious to see what was kept a secret inside this room. He stopped about half-way, though, seeing Gabriel stop.

Tears rolled down his commanding officer's cheeks. Quiet sniffles were heard echoing throughout the small room. In front of him, pictures of people were visible by candles light flickering ever so slightly.

"Boss?" McCree called out.

The shaking form stopped his crying and wiped his eyes. "...Anyone who tells you it's not ok to cry is lying to you, mijo. In the end, you're still human..."

Jesse took a closer look at the photos. He recognized a few faces. But they were dead…Oh…

“I…Got it, pa…Just…Never reckoned yer the sentimental type…Why’s th’ middle one empty?” It was true. In the center of the group of photos, one larger frame stood, waiting for a photo for it to protect from the elements.

“…That is for someone who deserves to be there when they pass away…”

His proud commander mourned each life Blackwatch lost. Each and every lost life had a framed photo and two candles to light it up. And the highest authority in Blackwatch shed his tears for them.

Jesse stood next to Reyes, taking off his hat in respect. “Y’Mind iffin Ah join ye, pa? In payin’ mah respects?”

“Take as long as you need, mijo…Just don’t tell anyone about what’s in this room, or you’re dead. The other men might not look at me in respect if they see me cry over los muertos…”

“Got it, pa. Our secret.”

“Right, mijo…Our secret.”

“…Hey, pa?”

“Yeah?”

“…Ah don’t suppose the good Strike Commander ‘as a room like this, does he?”

“Not that I’ve heard, mijo. What’s your point?”

“Well…Hate to say it, but Ah reckon the ressa Blackwatch is grateful ye ain’t th’ Strike Commander, y’know. Then ye’d be up there ‘nd Morrison’d be down here with us. Ah reckon he’d be much crueler than you, pa.”

Gabriel looked at the cowboy and smiled, wiping his tears away. “Guess you’re making me soft, vaquero. That what you trying to say to me?”

“No no no no! What Ah mean is…Jack don’t love us like you do, sir…”

“You’re saying that Strike Commander Jack Morrison doesn’t love his soldiers?”

“Not as much as you, pa…Never as much as you. Ah mean…Y’built this shrine for the fallen. Betcha a 20 that blonde yella-belly don’t got no shrine like this. Ye laugh with us, cry with us, fight with us…We wouldn’t have no one else as our leader, pa…”

“Mijo…” The older man gave a sigh. His smile dropped as he looked back at the framed pictures. Each photo was a moment of each fallen soldier at their happiest in Blackwatch. Most of the time, drinks were shared, grins were bared, laughs were had, stories were told…

And in each one, Gabriel Reyes was there with them.

Jesse watched the man choke back a sob. “Pa, Ah…Ahm powerful sorry…”

“Mijo, if it weren’t for me, they’d still be here…I can’t be the reason they were happy if I am also the reason they are dead. Morrison would never have let them die… He’s a better soldier and a better leader…He is everything I could ever wish to be. And, I…What am I compared to him? I’m the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot compared to him…”

“Y’know, in Deadlock, Ah had to beg just for that for me t’ eat at all. It was horrible…And Ah wouldn’t be here iffin it weren’t for you, pa. You remember how quick the boyscout was t’ throw me away…You believed in me, pa. You saved me…So…Even iffin y’don’t think so, yer always gonna be mah hero.”

“Boyscout. I’m gonna steal that one,” Gabriel chuckled. He took a deep breath and smiled at the young man again. “You mean it, mijo? Always?”

“Always…Even when yer long gone…Ah promise…”


End file.
